The Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. has become the latest business to make plans to leave Britain as the country prepares to exit the European Union.

Honda will close its plant in Swindon, England, which employs 3,500 workers, by 2021, it confirmed on Tuesday. Honda makes its popular Civic model at the factory, 70 miles (115 kms) west of London.The factory produces about 150,000 cars a year.

Honda Civic

More than 90 per cent were exported to Europe and the US. The news is a particularly bitter blow to the thousands of skilled and dedicated staff who work at the factory, their families and all of those employed in the supply chain,” Greg Clark, Britain’s business secretary, said in a statement. “We take our responsibilities to our associates very seriously and will always communicate any significant news with them first,” the firm said in a statement. British businesses are issuing increasingly urgent warnings about the damage being done by the uncertainty around Britain’s looming exit from the European Union. The uncertainty has already led many firms to shift some operations abroad, stockpile goods or defer investment decisions. Last month Honda announced plans for a six-day shutdown in April to prepare for any Brexit-related disruption. Honda also said it will cease production at its plant in Turkey in 2021, which will result in the loss of 1,100 jobs in that country.